You guys get to see Sasha's protective side in this chapter, involving both with her friends and her family. You also get a bit of the death of the ghosts theory in this chapter. But anyway, let's get onto it. I don't own anything. Danny Phantom belongs to Nick. Enjoy!
Guard Dog and Gray
Sasha walked through the halls of Casper High having just out of the only class she didn't have with Danny, Sam, and Tucker. It sucked not having her friends in all her classes but she could live without them for at least one. She lived without friends for much longer than fifty minutes. Sasha was calmly walking to meet up with her friends after school when a familiar face sprinted past her.
"Danny?" she questioned confused.
She got an explanation as Dash Baxter, who Sasha learned was the star quarterback on the football team and overall jerk, was chasing her friend with a crumbled-up test paper in his hand.
"That's it, Fenton, run. Or I'm taking this D I got on our spelling test out of your hid," Dash shouted at Danny.
"Oh, this isn't good," Sasha muttered to herself before sprinting down the hall after them.
When she turned the corner however she saw that Kwan, a football player who tried not to be as much of a jerk as Dash, began chasing after Danny as well. Hiding in an alcove Sasha waited until Danny was close to grab hold of him and get them out of the chase using her ghost powers. The two of them ended up in that parking lot, far away from Dash and Kwan.
"Man, that was close," Danny breathed. "Thanks for getting me out of there, Sasha."
"Hey, what are friends for," Sasha replied.
The small calm moment was interrupted when Sasha's bracelet started to vibrate along with Danny's breath to show, signaling that a ghost was near. The two teens got into defensive position as they looked around for the ghost they sensed. They were pretty confused, yet please, to find that the culprit was nothing but a small ghost pup.
"Ahhh. He's so cute," Sasha cooed.
"Now this we can handle," Danny said confidently.
The pup shut them up at that moment, growing into a much larger version of himself, growling at the two teens.
"Or not," Danny muttered. Danny and Sasha quickly changed into their ghost forms.
"It's okay, we can take this pup," Sasha assured him. But before either of them had time to react the ghost dog grabbed Danny by the ankle and began dragging him away. "Or he's going to take you. Didn't see that coming."
She tried to follow after them as the ghost dog dragged Danny all across Amity Park but managed to lose them at one point. Not wanting to give up Sasha continued her search and didn't locate Danny and the dog until she spotted them phase out of Axion Lab. This time it was Danny holding onto the dog by his collar but the ghost dog still had control. Seeing her chance Sasha fired a plasma beam at the dog, causing it to be thrown back onto the lawn. Danny groaned, having let go of the collar and was thrown into the bushes. Taking aim, Sasha shot a beam from her containment unit, capturing the ghost dog and stopping it from reeking more havoc on the town.
"You okay?" Sasha asked as she helped Danny up from the bushes.
"Yeah, I guess," Danny said disappointed in himself.
"What happened?" Sasha asked curious as to why the ghost dog dragged her friend all the way to Axion Lab.
"The dog totally went in and wrecked the place. I tried to stop him but he's much stronger than he looked," Danny explained.
"Well we better get him back into the Ghost Zone," Sasha replied.
Danny nodded in agreement as the two of them headed back to her house to send him back. Her ghost portal was much smaller than his, her mother purposely made it small enough that they could shove ghost back into the Ghost Zone and that they wouldn't be able to get out. Besides, the Fentons didn't have the setup which would fit her containment unit. It was set up for the thermos, not something as small as her unit. Plus, there wasn't a chance of being bombarded with questions at her house.
o
Sasha, Danny, Sam, and Tucker were strolling down the sidewalk when they came upon Valerie Gray's house with a huge yard sale sign sitting in the front and a moving van in the drive way. Valerie Gray, Sasha remembered her from school. She was amongst the popular crowd and wouldn't buy anything unless it had two zeros at the end of a price tag, paying over $500 dollars for a shirt. Sasha was never able to wrap her head around it. $500 would pay for so much in her house, bills, groceries, repairs. Any clothes over $30 dollars was a luxury reserved only for birthdays and Christmas.
"Woah, talk about rock bottom. They're selling everything the own in a yard sale," Sam commented.
"I feel bad. If I could've stopped that ghost dog none of this would have happened," Danny admitted, feeling guilty.
"She's having a hard week," Tucker observed before a smile appeared on his face. "Which means I can catch her on the rebound. Sweet!"
"Really, Tucker?" Sasha asked unimpressed.
He didn't listen. Instead he walked up into the yard and right up to Valerie as she carried a box of clothes out of the house.
"Hey, Val, I heard what happened," he said to her.
"Oh great, word already oozed down to the bottom of the social grapevine," Valerie replied sarcastically.
"Hey, come on. I know you're upset but he just wants to help," Danny said coming to Tucker's defense. "We all do."
"I don't," Sam disagreed.
"And I'm teetering," Sasha piped in.
She didn't care much for Valerie in school and seeing how she treated people who were just trying to be nice and help didn't settle well with Sasha. A quote from Harry Potter came to her mind: "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." Valerie didn't treat people well when she was rich and now that she was down to Sasha's level she still treated people badly. The only thing that kept her from saying no was the fact that Valerie was now in Sasha's position with a single parent and not that great of an income. That at least she could relate to.
"Well, most of us do, more than half," Tucker said, giving Valerie a smile.
Still Valerie didn't look impressed. "Thanks, but I'll pass."
Danny and Sasha let out a gasp when their ghost sense, Danny's breath and Sasha's bracelet, went off. They shot each other a look before coming up with an excuse for the others.
"I'm gonna have to pass too," Danny said.
"Yeah, looks like I teetered to no," Sasha commented.
The two of them ran off to transform. When they came back the two of them were surprised to find the ghost dog from the other day had popped up in Valerie's yard and trashed some of her stuff.
"How'd you get out of the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked confused.
The ghost dog growled at Danny but Sasha stepped in and started to scratch behind the dog's ear. He happily wagged his tail before shrinking back into a small pup.
"Doesn't matter if it's a ghost dog or a regular one. All dogs like a good scratch," Sasha smiled.
"Ghost dogs are a lot more entertaining than regular dogs though," Danny added.
Valerie approached the both of them angry, the majority of it directed at Danny. "Whatever you are, get out of here. You and your stupid dog have done enough," she barked at him. Not sensing the anger in her voice the ghost dog grabbed Danny by the ankle once again and dragged him away, breaking more stuff in its wake. With Danny gone Valerie turned to Sasha. "And you, I haven't seen you around here before."
"Oh me? Just got here today," Sasha replied a bit nervous and then went and picked Valerie's dresser up out of the street before flying off, "Sorry about your stuff!" She hurriedly flew after Danny who managed to grab hold of the ghost pup. The two of them headed to Danny's house this time to deposit the dog straight into the ghost portal.
o
It was lunch back at Amity high and Sasha sat with Danny, Sam, and Tucker. Sam and her were having a conversation about the possibility of vegan dessert recipes while Danny and Tucker scarfed down their food. They all paused their conversation however when they saw Valerie get shunned from her old table, forcing her to go sit somewhere else.
"Woah, brutal," Tucker commented.
"Did you see that? Valerie just got scorched by her friends," Danny said.
"Maybe she needs better friends," Sam remarked.
"My thoughts exactly," Tucker said and headed over to flirt with Valerie once again.
"Does he ever quit?" Sasha asked Sam and Danny.
"Not that we've seen," Danny answered.
Tucker's flirting didn't go so well, especially since the ghost dog showed up once again, terrorizing the cafeteria. Students ran out of the building screaming while Sasha, Danny, and Sam just sat where they were.
"You two aren't much of a dog catcher," she said.
"Yeah no kidding. Who let the dogs in?" Danny joked.
It fell flat amongst the girls. "Wow, I'm just going to ignore that sad excuse of a joke and go stop Cujo from breaking anything else," Sasha said and hid under the table to go into her ghost form. Danny joined her as well and they went after big Cujo who had the lunch lady in his mouth.
"Nice pooch, easy. That lady isn't edible," Sasha spoke softly, trying to calm the dog down.
"And neither is anything she cooks," Danny added in.
Seeing Danny Cujo dropped the lady - his tail wagging in joy - before tackling Danny out of the building, the two of them going intangible in order to pass through the wall. Sasha sighed and followed after them. She found them outside the school, tiny Cujo happily licking Danny's face.
"He really seems to like you," Sasha smirked.
"Great," Danny replied sarcastically.
"I wonder how he keeps managing to get out of the ghost zone," Sasha said, kneeling down she began to scratch behind Cujo's ear, saving Danny from an on slot of dog kisses. The pup stopped and cuddled into her side, hoping for more scratches. "There must be something here that he wants."
"What he really needs is training," Danny commented.
"Well, looks like we know what we're doing tonight," Sasha replied.
o
Sasha stood with Danny in the park, having brought a book on dog obedience she found in the library in order to help them. Cujo was joyfully running in between Sasha's legs, happy that he wasn't tossed back into the Ghost Zone.
"I'm telling you this is one bad dog. No matter how many times we toss him into the Ghost Zone he digs his way out of the Fenton portal and comes back to us," Danny complained.
"Well we are the only other ghosts in town," Sasha pointed out. "So, since he keeps coming back to us let's get to training him." She opened the book and quickly read over instructions on how to train a dog. "Stop," Sasha began to instruct Cujo. The pup stopped in his tracks and looked up at her. "Sit." Cujo did as she said, sitting down awaiting her next command.
"That's weird, the dog's already trained," Danny observed. Hearing Danny talking about him Cujo tackled Danny to the ground causing him and Sasha to chuckle. "Sort of."
The cute moment was interrupted however when a missile headed towards them. Danny grabbed hold of Cujo and he and Sasha jumped out of the away, causing the missile to hit the ground, creating a small crater. Danny set Cujo down and instructed him to stay before him and Sasha went off to find out who attacked them. Looking up they saw a female figure dressed in a red jumpsuit, holding a gun and riding a hoverboard. One of the rockets from her board activated and was sent straight towards them. Once again Danny and Sasha managed to dodge and began to fly away from the mysterious girl.
It was clear watching her that this was her first time attempting any of this as she was having a hard time controlling her hoverboard, actually falling off at one point and had terrible aim when it came to throwing small saw blades.
"Wow, nice aim. First day with the new weapons?" Danny mocked before one of the saw blades fell down and sliced his arm. "Ow, that hurt! Wait a minute… that hurt."
"Oh, don't worry ghost kid, it won't hurt long. Because you are going down," the girl threatened.
"Why are you doing this?" Sasha asked, wanting escape this girl and get Danny to her mom so that she would patch up his cut.
"Stay out of this ghost girl. This is between me, him, and that pesky dog of his," the girl said and took aim at Danny.
Before the shot could hit, Cujo came to the rescue in his large form and dragged Danny to safety. The girl tried to follow after them, blasting at Danny and Cujo rapidly before flying straight into a tree. Sasha caught up with Danny just as he threw an ecto ball off into the distance, having Cujo chase after it and removing the ghost dog from the situation.
"Who is that?" Sasha wondered.
"Don't know, don't care," Danny replied before seeing the girl had regained her composure and was after him again. "Oh man, she's coming. Sasha, hide, she's after me not you."
"No way am I letting her hunt you down," Sasha protested.
Thinking quickly, she tackled Danny into a nearby bush, her on top of him. Covered by the bush she transformed back into her human form and seeing this Danny copied her. Hearing the girl get closer Sasha placed Danny's hands on her hips and placed her own on his shoulders. She got close enough to Danny's face that it would look like they were kissing.
"No escaping me now ghost boy…" they heard the girl said. Sasha and Danny sat up, acting surprised that someone interrupted their "make out". "Ah gross, loser love! And here I thought you were gonna end up with the goth chick."
The girl flew away, not wanting to see any more of their fake make out session. Sasha placed her head on Danny's shoulder and sighed in relief, happy they got away from the girl.
"Wait a minute… 'Losers'? 'Goth chick'? That sounded a bit like Valerie," Sasha observed, picking her head off Danny's shoulders. She looked at Danny to see what his reaction was to this only to find him staring at her, blush spread across his face. It was then she realized that his hands were still placed firmly on her hips. "Uh… Danny?"
The boy blushed harder as he withdrew his hands and let out a cough to try and fill the awkward silence that was settling between the two of them. "Well… that was… interesting," Danny stuttered.
"Sorry, it was the only thing I could think of to get her off our trail," Sasha apologized, realizing just now how uncomfortable Danny must have felt.
"Well, hey, it worked," Danny laughed nervously, not knowing how to feel about their fake make out session.
"How's your arm?" Sasha asked.
"It's alright," Danny replied, happy that she changed the conversation. The two of them looked at his arm where one of Valerie's saw blades got him. The cut was small and was bleeding a bit. While being part ghost meant that they were able to heal quicker than the avenge person it was still important for them to get patched up after a fight to prevent any possible infections. Having a nurse for a mom really instilled that in Sasha.
"Let's go get my mom to patch you up," Sasha suggested.
Danny nodded, happy to remember that Sasha's mom knew about their ghost hunting and was supportive, offering to patch him up. The two got up from the ground and walked back to Sasha's house, not wanting to go into their ghost forms and draw the attention of a vengeful, ghost hunting Valerie.
o
"Wait, so you guys kissed?" Tucker asked Danny and Sasha the next day at school. They explained what happened the night before to Sam and Tucker which earned them surprised looks when they got to the fake make out session part.
"No, I just made it look like we were kissing," Sasha told him, turning her face to try and mask the blush forming on her face.
"But that's not the point. The point is that…" Danny began to saw before he was cut off as Tucker ran straight into Valerie.
"Valerie!" Tucker smiled before shooing his friends off so that he could once again flirt with the girl.
Sasha, Danny, and Sam glared at Tucker, upset with him still trying to get with her after finding out that she tried to kill Danny last night. The three of them left but stayed close to watch their interaction. Those glares didn't leave as Tucker brought up that Danny's parents were professional ghost hunters, getting Valerie's attention so much so that she pretended to flirt with him.
"Great, my best friend has a crush on a ghost hunter," Danny frowned.
"If he mentions anything about my mother I'm gonna kill him," Sasha said.
"Wow, that's a bit harsh," Sam commented.
"I don't care. My mom finally has a good job and I'm not gonna let her be ridiculed by the entire student body and facility just because Foley is thirsty for a girl who's clearly playing him," Sasha explained.
"You sound pretty protective of your mom," Danny noticed.
"How can't I be? I'm the only one she's got," Sasha replied.
o
Danny, Sasha, and Sam tailed Tucker and Valerie to the basketball game happening that day. The three didn't care for the sport at all but went to make sure Tucker didn't reveal too much to Valerie. Both Danny and Sasha were tense, each thinking about different issues.
"Guys, can you just relaxed?" Sam asked, noticing how serious her friends currently were.
"I'll relax when I can question Tucker about what he's been telling Valerie," Sasha said, continuing to glare at the boy who remained oblivious.
"And how can I relax? That stupid ghost dog could be anywhere and not to mention I have no idea how Valerie became a ghost hunter," Danny complained.
At the mentioned of Valerie, her and Tucker decided to move closer to them. "Hey, guys, can we join you?" Tucker asked.
"No," Danny and Sam said firmly.
"Yes!" Sasha answered and pulled Tucker down into the spot next to her. She then leaned over to Danny and whispered in his ear. "I don't like it as much as you do but this way we can find out what he's been telling her."
"So, Tucker tells me that your parents hunt ghosts," Valerie said to Danny straight out of the gate.
"Did he now? What else did he tell you?" Danny asked, glaring at his best friend. Once again oblivious to his friend's angry with him Tucker simply smiled in response.
"If you mentioned anything about my mother I'm gonna kill you," Sasha whispered in Tucker's ear threateningly, her eyes going violet for a moment. He gulped nervously and shook his head, meaning that he said nothing about Ms. Lucas.
Before Valerie could ask any more questions however Cujo, in his big dog form, appeared on the basketball court and started to chase the players. Danny, Sasha, and Valerie were quick to get up from their seats and run somewhere else. The two half ghosts assuming that she was running to change into her own ghost hunting outfit. Having gone ghost Danny and Sasha followed Cujo behind the bleachers. Upon seeing them he instantly calmed down and changed into his small puppy form. He happily ran up to them and began to dig around.
"You're looking for something?" Danny figured out from his motions.
"I knew it," Sasha smiled.
"Well, what are you looking for?" Danny asked the ghost dog.
Cujo didn't react. Instead he was thrown back as a pink light engulfed him, trapping him. Sasha and Danny turned around to see Valerie standing there in her red ghost hunting suit.
"Say goodbye ghost boy," she said and went to open what looked to be a copy of the Fenton thermos. She had trouble opening it however. "Ah, come on you stupid thermos!"
"That's awesome! Hey, Valerie, wait up!" Tucker called from on top of the bleachers before jumping down, right on top of Valerie.
Danny quickly flew over and grabbed Valerie from underneath Tucker before tossing her in a basketball net, pinning her arms to her sides and stopping her from doing anything further. Sasha in the meantime flew over to Cujo and helped the dog out of the ghostly net. He happily licked her in response. Danny flew back down to where Sasha was.
"We gotta do something about him tonight," she told him.
"Like what?" Danny asked.
"We gotta help him find whatever he's looking for. But for now…," Sasha explained and then pointed her capture unit at the dog. "I'm sorry, buddy, but they only way to keep you and everybody else safe is if you're in here." Cujo just happily wagged his tail as Sasha sucked him up into her containment unit.
o
Danny and Sasha followed Cujo after they released him from Sasha's containment unit. They instructed him to fetch whatever it was he was looking for, leading him to take them straight back to Axion Lab. Cujo barked excitedly as they arrived.
"The lab? What you're looking for is in there?" Danny asked. A nearby sound cased the teens to be on high alert.
"Someone's coming," Sasha whispered.
Danny picked up Cujo, putting a hand over his mouth to silence the dog, and the three of them hugged the wall, turning invisible so they wouldn't be spotted. Down the corridor came an older gentleman in a suit talking to Valerie's dad who was dressed in a security uniform.
"I appreciate the second chance, sir," Mr. Gray said to the man.
"As long as nothing else happens we'll see about reinstating your contract. I knew we never should have gotten rid of those guard dogs," the man in the suit replied as the two of them headed down another corridor.
"Valerie's dad? Oh great," Danny said sarcastically.
"Did he say something about getting rid of guard dogs?" Sasha asked, a bad feeling coming over her as she glanced at Cujo.
Seeing as there was going to be a complication in tonight's search Danny called in the help of Sam and Tucker to watch over Cujo as him and Sasha went in search of whatever the dog could want from the lab. They both wished they knew what they were looking for when Danny was shot back. They looked over to see that Valerie was in the lab as well, dawning her red ghost hunting suit yet again.
"Back at the scene of the crime?" she asked, not caring for an answer.
The three of them began another battle, Danny and Sasha trying to fight off Valerie while she shot at them, her aim having not improved that much since the last time. Danny took towards more so avoiding the shots while Sasha fire back some blasts of her own.
"Why can't you just leave this between me and him?!" Valerie shouted as she dodged one of Sasha's blasts.
"Because he's my friend, and I protect those who are close to me," Sasha responded, sending another blast at the human girl this time hitting her and knocking her into a wall.
Valerie growled as she got up. "Well then, looks like I'll have to destroy you as well," she threatened Sasha.
The girl ran straight towards Sasha, intending to throw a punch to which Sasha simply went intangible, causing Valerie to go through her. As Valerie approached another wall Cujo, in his big dog form, phased through, barking angrily at Valerie. Danny was quick to flying in and save her from being attacked.
"Let me go!" Valerie protested as Danny flew her away from the ghost dog.
"Yeah, you're welcome," Danny replied annoyed.
Valerie wiggled her way out of Danny's grip and dropped to the floor. She pulled out another of her guns and shot at Danny which ended up missing him and hitting the alarm button instead.
"You and your stupid dog ruined everything. And now you're gonna pay… and every ghost like you," Valerie growled as she took aim at both Danny and Sasha. She sent a blast at them which sent both teens flying into the next room, even when they went intangible. They were surprised to find themselves in an old kennel.
"An old kennel? This must be where they kept all the old guard dogs," Danny observed.
Realization hit Sasha as she stared at all the old dog crates covered in cob webs. The kennel… Cujo coming back to Axion Lab to find something… he was one of the lab's old guard dogs. That was only confirmed as Danny found a squeaky toy within some padding, looking much loved. It must have been what Cujo was searching for. As Danny left to stop Cujo from murdering Valerie Sasha stayed where she was. Tears formed in her eyes as she covered her mouth to silence the possible oncoming sobs. They didn't just get rid of the dogs, they killed them. Cujo's presence was more enough to confirm that. She didn't understand how the people at Axion could be so cruel. Sure, Sasha understood wanting to get rid of the guard dogs in favor of a high-tech security system. But what she didn't understand was having them put down as a result. Those dogs could have been sold to the police, after all they were trained for that sort of work, or they could have just been placed in a shelter for other people to adopt them. She'd seen how happy Cujo was when he wasn't in guard mode, surely it wouldn't be hard to adopted out a dog like him. After all the ghost dog managed to worm his way into both her and Danny's heart. Killing the guard dogs was just plane cruel. Sasha didn't even notice when Danny flew back into the kennel looking for her.
"Sasha? Hey are you okay?" Danny asked when he noticed tears running down her face.
"They killed them, Danny. They killed them all off," Sasha replied.
"What?" Danny asked confused.
"The guard dogs. They didn't just get rid of them. They killed them," she explained, trying and failing to stop crying.
Danny looked at her in shock, wondering how she knew that. "How can you tell?" he asked her.
"Most ghosts have a story they carry with them after they die, how they look, how they act. Like, with Spectra I have a theory she died of surgery complications in trying to remain looking young. With Cujo it's more obvious. He was one of the guard dogs here, and a pretty recent one too seeing as you found his favorite toy. They must have put him down. How else would he be able to come back as a ghost?" Sasha continued.
"I guess I never thought about that," Danny admitted.
"It's really only cases like this that affect me. Anything with animals or kids… they're always the saddest," she said, wiping her tears away.
Seeing his friend in distress Danny pulled Sasha into his arms in attempts to console her. After what she told him though part of the hug was for him as well. Ghosts had always been a part of his life thanks to his parents' obsession. They were just this thing to him. He never thought about them once being alive before and realizing that all the ghosts he fought were once actual living, breathing people was sombering. Sasha hugged him back and the two just stayed there for a moment, mourning the dog who inserted himself into their lives for the past couple days.
o
The group sat at their lunch table, still discussing what happened the night before. Danny filled Sasha in on Cujo getting his squeaky toy back and then disappearing. He also told her about how he tried to fix things with Valerie in her ghost form only to be denied. Looks like she was angrier than ever with ghosts. Sam then proceeded to tell her that Tucker purposely trap himself in a security net in order to take the fall for Valerie. Tucker piped up that luckily he got off with just a warning. Both Sasha and Danny decided not to tell Sam and Tucker what happened in the kennel. It was just too morbid. Plus, Sasha didn't want to get worked up again.
"Gonna play it a little safer now that Valerie, the ghost slayer is around?" Sam asked both Danny and Sasha.
"Yep," the both of them answered, glaring at Valerie as she passed by.
"I just wish I knew where she got those weapons," Danny sighed.
"Or that costume. A costume that stylin' had to cost something, you know," Tucker said dreamily.
"Well, I don't know where she got the weapons but I think I know where she got some extra cash. Remember those concert tickets she sold on the internet?" Sam said.
"You bought her tickets?" Sasha asked with a smile. Looks like some good would come from what happened with Valerie. The concern about where her ghost hunting equipment came from could wait. Right now they could look forward to the concert coming up. A nice break from all the craziness and moment to simply be ordinary teenagers.
Thanks for reading. Be sure to leave me a review and a crazy "So Tell Me About Yourself" answer. And be sure to check out my profile for character designs and my writing schedule.
"So Tell Me About Yourself" is an inside joke between me and my friends which started from my one friend's hatred for the typical getting-to-know-you question "So tell me about yourself". She, being so annoyed with the phrase, gave a silly answer that she murdered people in their sleep. When she brought it back to me and my other friend we both gave a silly answer. That is where the idea for my account name came from.
